Self Portrait. A Boy in His Mother’s Clothes Singing Madonna’s “Live To Tell”. At Night. Alone.

Cassandra Whitaker

A bag of snakes, the hole inside
me. Filled with secrets, slippery
slick, a muddy hole
slithering with rain which goes on
humming inside a hole I carry.  I mean
to run away.  Secrets, slithering
in the muddy center, knot
together and pull free. Go
where they want, do what they do,
the secrets inside of me.